Case 25 - The anxious hitting sleeper

Summary

This chapter presents the clinical history, examination, follow-up, treatment, diagnosis, and the results of the procedures performed on a man who presented with frequent episodes of sudden and unexplained arousals from nocturnal sleep. The sleep medicine specialist ordered a full-night video-polysomnography (PSG) recording including standard bipolar EEG, right and left electro-oculograms (EOGs), surface EMG of the mylohyoideus muscle, ECG, oro-nasal, thoracic and abdominal respirograms, and circulating oxyhemoglobin saturation. The specialist decided to withdraw clonazepam and advised the patient not to drive due to drowsiness until the results of the investigations became available and appropriate therapy was prescribed. The sleep medicine specialist established a diagnosis of nocturnal frontal lobe epilepsy (NFLE) based on historical features and video-PSG findings. Nocturnal frontal lobe epilepsy is a peculiar partial epilepsy whose clinical features comprise a spectrum of paroxysmal motor manifestations of variable duration and complexity, occurring mainly during sleep.